Humans have always been fascinated by the subject of some shut-eye. However, the interest and focus on sleeping habits and health as we know it today is quite a new development. For most of human history, sleep was merely a natural and unavoidable part of our day, nothing to overthink. It was not until the 20th century and in particular the post-World War II era, that people began to study sleep more scientifically and understand its role in health, mood, and performance.
In the 1930s, researchers began to study patterns using EEG machines that observed brain activity, leading to the discovery of the different stages of sleep, including REM. Research since then has grown exponentially, and public awareness and understanding of sleep health boomed during the 1970s and ’80s along with significant scientific discoveries around sleep disorders and the impact of lifestyle factors.
Fast forward to today, and with our 24/7 society and increasingly busy lifestyles, sleep habits are now more important than ever to understand and prioritise – and thankfully finally receiving the recognition they deserve.
What Actually Happens When You Sleep
As soon as you snuggle into your king bed frame and drift off, we all know (even if we don’t always think about it) that our minds don’t simply power down. Instead, they become surprisingly active, quietly filing away memories, processing emotions, and clearing out mental clutter like a diligent office worker tidying up after hours. Meanwhile, our bodies get busy with their own repair jobs: muscles rebuild, tissues grow, and the immune system strengthens its defences, all on autopilot.
Then there’s the fascinating dream state – a surreal highlight reel that most of us have puzzled over at one time or another. Scientists are still working to fully decode it, but many believe our dreams help us solve problems or rehearse real-life scenarios like our brains running their own private dress rehearsals.
So next time you collapse into your king bed mattress after a long day, remember: sleep isn’t wasted time. It’s some of the most productive (and essential) work your body does, all while you’re lying there, catching Zs.
Understanding Your Sleep Cycles
The Different Stages Of Sleep
Stage 1: Light Sleep (your ‘dozing off’ phase)
It begins with that light, hazy drift as you are dozing off. Your heartbeat slows down, your thoughts float around in a pleasant blur. You may experience a strange jerk that leaves you feeling as if you were falling.
Stage 2: Slightly Deeper Sleep
This stage takes place a few minutes after falling asleep. Your body temperature drops and your brain waves slow. You are not in deep sleep but are in a deep enough level of sleep that if your mother-in-law were to bang pots and pans in the kitchen, you might not hear her. Deep sleep is the next stage, and this is also the deepest level of sleep that is hardest to be awoken from. If someone wakes you during this stage, you will feel extremely groggy and sluggish.
Stage 3: REM Sleep
When you enter REM sleep, your brain suddenly becomes hyperactive, lighting up almost as if you are awake. REM sleep is where your brain organises and processes all your memories, thoughts and emotions. This is why it is so important for you to get at least some amount of REM sleep every night. Consider your REM sleep your overnight filing system that sorts through the mental and emotional clutter you accumulated during the day.
But here’s the kicker: when your body doesn’t get enough sleep, it misses out on these crucial cycles. Over time, poor sleep takes a real toll on everything from your memory to your mood.
How Circadian Rhythms Work
Ever ask yourself why you automatically feel hungry at the same time every day or why you yawn at the same time every night? Or why it’s sometimes a struggle to be happy before your morning coffee? Say hello to your circadian rhythm.
Your circadian rhythm is like your body’s own natural clock, operating on a 24-hour cycle that’s constantly working behind the scenes, telling you when to be awake, when to eat, when to be alert, and when it’s time to start getting ready to sleep. This is controlled by a part of your brain, the suprachiasmatic nucleus (try pronouncing that five times fast) that’s sensitive to light.
Your eyes tell the suprachiasmatic nucleus when it’s time to be awake and it responds by stimulating alertness while at the same time suppressing melatonin (a hormone that helps you feel sleepy). When darkness comes, everything is reversed.
It’s not just about rest, though. Your circadian rhythm controls things like hormone secretion when you digest food and even body temperature. Which is why if you alter it (pulling an all-nighter or travelling to another time zone) your entire body can get out of whack, making you tired during the day, hungry at night, and grouchy.
Common Sleep Disruptors to Avoid
Turns out, it’s not just stress or late-night snacks that can mess with you. The good news? Just being aware of these common disruptors means you can start making small changes and sleep better in as little as one night.
Blue Light & Screen Time
Scrolling through your phone or watching one more episode of TV may seem harmless, but all that screen time before bed is like staring into a miniature sun in the eye. The blue light that our devices give off confuses your brain into thinking it’s daytime, inhibiting the production of melatonin, the hormone that makes us sleepy.
This could be why you can’t stop staring at the ceiling at midnight. The blue light emitted by electronics isn’t going to disappear (unless you want to go full-on Luddite), but you can use solutions like reducing brightness settings or activating ‘night mode’ on your devices, although the best solution is always giving your screens a bedtime. Put your phone down an hour before sleep and see how it feels to fall asleep.
Diet & Caffeine
When it comes to sleep, what you put into your body throughout the day and night matters just as much as what you do. A big, heavy meal right before bed can have you tossing and turning as your digestive system overpowers your body’s drive to sleep. But even something like caffeine can be more of a problem than you realise.
A mid-afternoon cuppa, a square of chocolate or even some herbal teas might be disrupting your Zzzs more than you realise if they contain caffeine. That’s because it’s not like sleeping pills that drop you off as soon as they’re in your system; caffeine can take a few hours to work and sometimes linger in your system for longer than you realise, which is why you might not notice how it’s keeping you alert when all you want to do is wind down. If you’ve been having trouble sleeping, swap your late afternoon coffee for some herbal tea and give yourself a few hours between dinner and bedtime.
How to Build Better Sleep Habits
Let’s take a moment to explore how to get a better night’s sleep. Building good patterns doesn’t mean overhauling your whole routine overnight – often, all it takes is a few tweaks to what you’re already doing.
Ready to find out what those little shifts look like?
Create a Consistent Sleep Schedule
In order to get into a restful sleep routine, try to stick to the same bedtime and wake-up time as much as possible. Yes, this even applies during weekends! Creating a consistent sleep schedule can train your internal body clock so you can fall asleep and wake up feeling well-rested.
Design a Restful Bedroom Environment
Did you know that the quality of your bedroom can make or break a night of quality sleep? A bedroom that has a calming, cosy atmosphere will signal to your body that this is the place to relax.
Ideally, the room should be dark, relatively cool and free from distractions, noise and clutter. If possible, treat your bedroom as a retreat with comfortable bedding and uncluttered space, which will help you fall asleep when it’s bedtime.
Wind-Down Routines to Signal Sleep
The number one thing you can do to improve the quality of your night’s kip is to develop a pre-sleep ritual. A pre-sleep ritual is the process of winding down and letting your body know that the day is over. For some people this is reading a book; others prefer to do some stretches or yoga. Still others like to light a scented candle or listen to relaxing music.
The key is to choose the same ritual every night so your brain can start to associate those activities with bedtime and trigger a sleep response by recognising, “Okay, now I need to slow down”. After doing your nightly ritual for a while, your body will know that sleep is on its way and you should find yourself expecting it and dropping off into a deeper sleep, faster.
Can We Retrain Ourselves to Sleep Better?
The good news is that of course you can! There is a route back to feeling rested and refreshed. The change won’t happen overnight and it isn’t the flick of a magic wand, rather there are a series of ways you can retrain yourself back to good, natural sleep habits, and these are also known as “sleep hygiene”.
The most important thing to remember is to be kind to yourself and consistent. Progress, however small it may feel, is progress, and if you find that you fall asleep five minutes earlier than the previous night, it’s a step in the right direction.
With a few tweaks, getting enough sleep is not only possible, but it will become the norm, one new habit at a time.
